Looks to be mostly classic cuts this month, but particular highlights include pre-sampling hypocritical genius from James Brown, sampling David Bowie’s Fame in his track Hot (I Need To Be Loved Loved Loved), oft-sampled gems from the likes of Pointer Sisters, The Delfonics and Lee Dorsey, Bowie himself in the form of floor-filler Fashion and some new (!) music from upcoming album Blackstar (Is it about Kendrick?). There’s post-punk electronic tangents from Curis & Cosey, Porsche Majeure and Sleaford Mods, not one but TWO face-pullers from The Isley Brothers and even some real tasty UK Hip-Hop from Loyle Carner (and the Barry White sample from Roots’ new cut). Just to name a few!

I’m really excited about the MED/BLU/MADLIB collab. feat. MF DOOM, called Knock Knock from the fresh album BAD NEIGHBORS. Such a groove! Proof that Tha’ Beat Konductor can still pick ’em.

Don’t you think Christmas is getting earlier and earlier every year? I do.

But hey – those stores need the cash injection, right? >:(

So, I thought I’d get in on the action…

Longtime Friend of Tha’ Funk Masta and collaborator Andrew Denholm has done it again and made some mentalist illustration for my new single, but I need folks to share it about on Twitter – every retweet gets closer to uncovering the full image. It’s really great, trust me!

So, it looks like all I did in October was listen to the radio – here’s 95 (!) selections from this month’s programming.

As such, there’s a pretty eclectic mix here – some Afrobeat from Rim Kwaku Obeng, Elecronica grooves from the likes of Nao and new Aphex Twin, downtempo grooves from folks like Warmth and Morcheeba, a fantastic return from Roots Manuva (and Guy Garvey’s new track really gets down and dirty!), Jazz Music (Kamasi Washington Jr. ftw), Roots Reggae, Hip-Hop, old favs… it’s all over the place, so feel free to stick it on in the background and let it wash over you.

This week has seen overwhelming levels of smugness and [somewhat higher than usual levels of] vitriol present in Manchester as the annual Conservative Party Conference is underway. Whilst some less-subtle people, perhaps misguided, perhaps overwhelmed by the gravity of reality caused a bit of scene outside which undermined the legitimacy of the actual protests, spry Socialist Owen Jones has ventured through the looking glass to get a first-hand feel for the people behind the generalised establishmentarian misery.

Which is great. Good for him for seeking the other side of the argument for the sake of a balanced conclusion. It is true that we sometimes forget that behind the labels are individual people with the power of reason. I however, have reasoned that a lot of Tories are either scared of change, too comfortable to envision a different way, too influenced by the media, too short-sighted to look at a bigger picture or too ignorant to care (my possibly harsh generalisation) – and I would imagine that Mr. Jones agrees with me. Based on the conversations he’s had with these attendees, they seem to just have different values, of status and position and impression and stuff. Personally, all these transient things are not to be valued.

The guy at 3:36 obviously didn’t expect to be interviewed, but whatever he’s on he seems to be at the conference for a jolly. And that tells me a lot about his attitude, at least.